Jake Mace
Marnina and Micah, a.k.a Couplet, are bringing their Honey Honey Moon Moon to Edinburgh Festival Fringe – after a pitch-perfect wedding… in which their wedding venue burnt down amidst the LA wildfires. So they’re chasing off the existential dread by putting on a show about it. Ahead of their arrival in Edinburgh we caught up with the duo for a pixelated pint to find out more about how they found the funny in this crazy situation.
You can catch Couplet: Honey Honey Moon Moon from July 31st to August 24th (not the 12th) at Front Room at Assembly Rooms from 18:25 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Get an advance peek at the show by checking out Couplet on Instagram.
Jake: Hi Marnina and Micah! Tell us about your upcoming EdFringe show, what’s inspired it, and your process of creating musical comedy.
M&M: Jake, we’re so glad you asked. Our show is about how our wedding almost didn’t happen – thanks especially to our wedding venue burning down in the LA wildfires. But we’ve written a musical comedy show about it and we’ve made it to our honeymoon! We know everyone brings a show to EdFringe for their honeymoon, but hey, some wedding traditions are classics for a reason. Everyone loves searching for a new venue after the last one became a pile of rubble and writing a song about it before the fires have been put out. All the movies told us that there’s nothing more romantic than surviving a disaster together, and they’re right!
The real story is that we came to EdFringe as punters two years ago when we were going to be nearby for our friends’ wedding, and we fell in love with it and decided to return with a show. We also got our engagement rings on the same trip (they were from a flea market in London and we both asked and said yes on a pre-set proposal date back in LA). All this meant we were wedding planning and crafting this show simultaneously, which is kind of unwise if you care about your mental health. Originally it was an advice show, but when the venue burned down, it morphed into a narrative show about trying to have a fun and happy thing in a grim and chaotic world.
We improvise dumb little songs together all the time, but our strongest songs first come from an experience or a premise we want to explore. Often we take a walk and brainstorm the outline, then sit down with Micah on guitar and Marnina typing, both of us trying out musical ideas and lyrics and jokes. If they make us laugh and we think they make enough sense to someone outside our relationship, we’ll try them out for a live audience. If something doesn’t land, we rewrite it. We cut and rework our material so much that friends have been upset that their favorite song or lyric is missing from the show. But we know we have many more shows to come, and the good stuff will return in the future!
Jake: Tell us about what the audience can expect coming into the show, and what they might not expect about the show.
M&M: A big theme in our show is that things are more complicated than they first appear. Micah is an optimist, but has a resting sad face. Marnina has a bubbly personality, but dark, existential fears beneath. And even though we’re happy and on our honeymoon, we don’t shy away from joking about the hard stuff, like fascism and couples therapy.
Another thing that might surprise people is that even though we’re straight-passing, we’re both queer. We have a whole song about it “People Think We’re Straight (But We’re Not Straight)” about assumptions people make, including us! At one point, we also both assumed that we were cis and straight, so we get it! We used to have a joke that we’re part of a less-popular segment of the queer community – “monogamous”. But you can be monogamous while still encouraging your partner’s growth: whether it’s their sexuality, gender expression, or a budding interest in crossword puzzles.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
M&M: The best thing a stranger has told us after seeing our show was that it inspired them to believe in love again. That’s our new bar for post-show audience feedback. We declare in the show that our wedding has to save the world, and though that may be a tad unrealistic, we do want our story to help our audiences turn around and spread joy during scary and uncertain times. After something awful happens like the LA wildfires, people still need to get together to celebrate life. And someone should probably put out the fires too.
If it’s too much to hope that our audiences take away a renewed belief in love and zeal for life, maybe just “those two are FUNNY.” That would be acceptable too.
Jake: With Edinburgh Fringe 2025 just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
M&M: We are humongous theatre fans, so we will be seeing as many other shows as possible: circus, magic, clown, musicals, solo shows. We get so inspired by seeing other performers do their thing. And unlike every cliche reality show villain, we ARE here to make friends, which we will absolutely shamelessly do. One major highlight of our last EdFringe was gushing to Mike Birbiglia after we all saw Rose Matafeo’s brilliant work in progress. We babbled to him about our “show” which at that point was two songs, and he was like, “Yeah! You should totally bring your show here! Keep going!” EdFringe is special that way.
We’ll also probably have some stressful breaking point sometime in the month of shows and we’ll turn that into our next best song.
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
M&M: What about a lavender latte? It appeals to lots of palettes, but it’s a little off the beaten path. It’s pretty queer, especially if made with almond milk, which this one absolutely is. It’s sweet and soothing but has a subtle edge that you may need a bit of sophistication to appreciate. But no matter who you are, it gives you a boost of energy and makes you feel like even if things are hard, there’s still goodness in the world. And a pair of married baristas could easily spend way too much of their lives obsessing over how to make the perfect version of it, so that also checks out.
A reminder, you can catch Couplet: Honey Honey Moon Moon from July 31st to August 24th (not the 12th) at Front Room at Assembly Rooms from 18:25 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Image Credit: Jack Morris
Jasmine Silk
Phoebe Bakker
